"Once, in a kingdom called Delain, there was a king with two sons." Chapter 1, pg. 7

"Peter, a little boy who would someday be King, had dozens of toys—no, if I am to tell you the truth, he had thousands of toys. He had hundreds of lead soldiers with which he fought great battles, and dozens of play horses. He had games and balls and marbles. He had stilts that made him five feet high. He had a magical spring-stick on which he could bounce, and all the drawing paper he wanted, in a time when paper was extremely hard to make and only wealthy people could afford to have it.

But of all the toys in the castle, the one he loved the best was his mother's dollhouse."

Chapter 8, pg. 26

"Now let many long years pass, all in a twinkling—one of the great things...